Sourcing suppliers in Mexico is an important step in the process of moving your products manufacturing to the country. Thanks to both the IMMEX program and the USMCA, manufacturing a product in Mexico that is made up of material sourced in the free trade area comes with a huge bonus: it’s totally duty free. Couple this with the low cost of labor and the high cost of doing business with China, and you’ll quickly realize why so many companies are interested in doing business in Mexico. This is a double edged sword though, as the more interest there is in Mexican manufacturing the more competition there will be for reliable suppliers, making it imperative that you get in early and establish a good working relationship with a local supplier in Mexico.
The first step in this process is actually finding the suppliers and developing a short list of potential partners. This can be tough as there is a huge volume of candidates to choose from, many of which are difficult to get into contact with as they often don’t have websites or easily available contact information. If they do, sometimes information about their manufacturing capability is thin on the ground making it tough to gauge whether they would be able to cater to your needs. A first step might be to browse through manufacturing directories or get into contact with a local consultant, but both of those options come with potential problems. Often directories are updated slowly, and contain out-of-date information making the process of getting into contact a pain, and consultants can be hit-or-miss depending on their personal relationships and have the potential to recommend unsuitable partners for their own benefit.
For these reasons it might be more suitable for you to find a reliable supplier personally, but in doing so it’s important to bear a few key concepts in mind. How much time do you have to dedicate to finding the right manufacturer? Does your product require specific technical know-how to manufacture? What kind of scale do you want to operate at? Can you audit suppliers to make sure they are the right fit for you? All of these questions and more should be in your mind as you start your search.
Finding the right supplier is a vital part of the outsourcing process and it’s a step that can take a huge amount of time. Part of this step is going to involve picking up the phone and calling factories to enquire personally, and unless you’re a very small operation, it might even be necessary to make the trip down yourself to get some first hand experience. Visiting with suppliers in person, while a large time commitment, is one of the only reliable ways to get a real understanding of their capability and judge for yourself whether they are able to produce goods that meet your expectations. This step will also be a good opportunity to gauge your suppliers’ access to quality materials as you’ll be able to inquire about vendors locally and discuss it directly.
Technical knowledge is equally important if your product requires it, and precision manufacturing may require your supplier to have access to specific machinery or have staff on hand with knowledge of technical processes. Again, this is a case of speaking to the supplier directly and viewing their facilities first-hand to get a sense of their capabilities. If you’re trying to find a supplier that can take a large volume order then this is the best time to discuss that also, as knowledge of processes alone won’t allow them to fill a large volume order if they don’t have access to facilities capable of processing it.
Of course, the third option would be to allow us to do the hard work for you. Zipfox will allow you to oversee every step of the process, from ordering to delivery, from one easy to use portal. We’ve also done the auditing for you and can guarantee that any supplier that you find on our site will be reliable, capable and efficient. With our platform you can easily get into personal contact with a reliable supplier to discuss the fine details of your order and its delivery, allowing you to navigate the detailed process of importing goods in the most pain and hassle free way imaginable. It’s certainly possible to do all of this on your own, but it’s a time consuming process – and with Zipfox on your side you can focus that time on the growth of your business. If this sounds interesting to you, click below to get started.
